Thoracic Injuries in Indian Kashmir during Earthquake, 2005

Background: Earthquakes cause horrendous devastation with lots of deaths. This study was conducted to determine the patterns of thoracic injuries in the 2005 earthquake victims of Indian Kashmir referred to the CVTS Dept. of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, India. Methods: Of the 468 patients received by SKIMS, 87 patients had either isolated chest injuries or multiple organ trauma. Chest injuries were identified and categorized for appropriate management to be instituted. The patients were followed up for next four years for functional outcome. Results: There were 51 females and 36 males. Their mean age was 35 years. 83.91% had isolated chest injuries while 16.09% had associated injuries. For patients with isolated chest trauma, the Mean Injury Severity Score (MISS) was 8.79 and for multiple organ trauma it was 36.42. 27.59% were treated conservatively, and 41.38% had only chest tube. 31.03% were operated; 37 surgeries were done. 87.36% of the patients showed excellent recovery in functional outcomes. Females have shown more long term PTSD than males. Conclusion: Massive calamities like earthquakes cause multiple types of injuries in the affected population. Categorization of the victims in different groups so as to provide specialized and multi-specialty integrated care is imperative. In accordance with earlier studies, we found that high MISS is associated with high mortality.